Hypodermic syringes with needles are widely available and enjoy extensive use throughout industry, particularly in the field of medicine wherein they are commonly employed for injecting medicaments, drugs, inoculants and the like into an array of human or other patients.
Generally a hypodermic syringe is a device comprising a medicament storage compartment having a means, such as a movable plunger, suitably arranged for filling and expelling fluids to and from the storage compartment though a common inlet/outlet. Hypodermic syringes are generally fitted with a hollow needle having a dosing outlet at a distal end, which needle is arranged contiguous with the common inlet/outlet of the storage compartment to facilitate directing fluid flow to or from a specific site. In order to expedite their use and ease pain associated with animal injections, needles have been so improved that the modern needle comprises a tip which can effortlessly pierce barriers such as the skin and it is generally understood that extreme care must be taken to avoid inadvertent or undesirable skin penetration by the needle.
Unfortunately, the widespread use of hypodermic syringes with needles and the effortless manner in which such needles can penetrate the skin barrier are prime factors contributing to their misuse and thus pose a continuing problem to their safe use. For example, it is not unusual for persons using such devices to accidentally prick themselves or others with an exposed needle tip of a hypodermic syringe through carelessness. It is not unusual for such devices to be improperly discarded or otherwise carelessly placed such that an unsuspecting person is inadvertently pricked. The discarding of used hypodermic syringes with needles is a particular problem in that inadvertent needle pricks and/or the intentional improper reuse of such devices are a continuing threat and can be a devastating disease transmission source.
The prior art is replete with disclosure of improved hypodermic syringes with needle, many of which provide elaborate arrangements to protect from accidental pricking after use of the device. Some such devices comprise needle sheathing arrangements which are effective in preventing accidental pricking, but require careful manipulation by the user to enable sheathing and have generally not enjoyed commercial success. Other devices provide various means which automatically engage effective sheathing means upon use of the device, but generally such sheathing means are easily defeated by the determined intentional re-user, and the risk of careless reuse, with the inherent problem of disease transmission, remains a continuing problem.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel hypodermic syringe with needle that automatically protectively engages the dosing end of the needle upon use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel sheathing arrangement for a hypodermic syringe with needle that is difficult to intentionally defeat.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel hypodermic syringe with needle that conveniently and safely disables the syringing capability of the device.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel disposable hypodermic syringe with needle that disables and automatically sheathes the needle upon a single use.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.